Computational synthesis of bio-inspired corrugated airfoils for micro air vehicle’s wing at low speed

Present work is intended to synthesize the effects of variations in the geometrical factors on the aerodynamic efficiency and longitudinal static stability of bio-inspired airfoils at a Reynolds number of 80000. Three different airfoils were chosen with geometrically different parameters. The two airfoils were corrugated and inspired by dragonfly (Aeshnacyanea) wings, and the third one was a non-corrugated called hybrid airfoil. Rectangular wing models of all the three airfoils were fabricated by 3D printing method to undertake the experimental work in a low-speed subsonic wind tunnel. Computational analysis was performed by using ANSYS FLUENT solver by implementing the same boundary conditions as in the experimental testing. The computational and experimental tests were performed with varying angles of attack ranging from −4 to +20. The results revealed that the non-corrugated airfoil showed comparatively better aerodynamic efficiency at higher angles of attack whereas the corrugated airfoils generated smaller moments thereby decreasing the instability caused by the wing.